The answer? Chris DiMarco. He finished two behind Woods and three clear of Ernie Els. DiMarco’s career record shows second places in three of golf’s four majors; Woods pipped him to two of them.

Eight years ago, DiMarco had family matters of his own in mind. “I had lost my mother, suddenly, just a couple of weeks before the Open,” the American remembers. “For some reason, I felt a lot of peace on the golf course. I was very, very at ease. My putting was phenomenal, I always seemed to putt my best on fast greens such as those ones.

“I watched it all back just the other day and what was also noticeable was that I didn’t always hit the greatest shots but I left the ball in the right spots when I missed.”

Royal Liverpool was in a scorched state back then, so much so, in fact, that the R&A asked players to take extra care if they smoked. “The course was fast, so fast,” DiMarco reflects. “The fairways seemed faster than the greens in places.” It did not put the New Yorker off his stride, however, and after rounds of 70, 65 and 69 he started day four just one behind Woods, partnering Ernie Els as the eventual winner played with Sergio García. DiMarco’s father, Rich, walked all 18 holes.

“My mother was called Norma,” DiMarco says. “On the 1st tee that Sunday, one of the walking scorers came over and introduced herself as Norma. I think I had only met one or two other Normas in my life. That was divine intervention as far as I was concerned. Whether through that or not, I had real peace of mind all day.

“Up until holing a birdie putt on the 14th, I didn’t show any emotion at all, which was unusual for me – I was usually more vocal. I just felt in a really, really good place and when I holed that putt on 14 I absolutely felt I could win. It was the hardest hole on the course and Tiger still had to play it.”

So what happened next? Woods made three on the same par four. Just as at the 2005 Masters, when Woods triumphed in a play-off, DiMarco came up marginally short. “I hit a great shot into 15 that just took a little kick,” he recalls. “On 17 I had 15ft for birdie and grazed the hole. So there were chances.

“I think between 2002 and 2004 guys were scared to go head-to-head with Tiger. He loves to compete and he used to use that to his advantage, to intimidate guys. But I think if you asked him about his majors, the ones where he was challenged and was fighting to win would be his favourites. He loved that. The 2005 Masters and 2006 Open were examples of it.”

After first representing the US in the 2004 Ryder Cup, DiMarco returned in 2006 but never reached such a high point again. A shoulder injury, which he played through before succumbing to surgery in 2007, played a key role in that. “In other sports, you can take yourself out of the team, play in the reserves for a while and recuperate. In golf, you can’t just freeze your ranking status and get yourself back fit properly.”

Any sympathy for a golfer who is virtually a forgotten man at the age of 45 should be offset by two points; career earnings in excess of $22m and the fact that DiMarco is a perfectly happy man. “I am winding down now,” he says. “This will be my 19th year on tour. I have kids at 18, 16 and 10; it’s more important for me to be at home with my family now, being there as a dad. I will play five to 10 tournaments a year for the next few years then look at the Champions Tour.”

This weekend, though, DiMarco’s attentions will again be on Hoylake. And understandably so. “It will be tough,” he admits. “I’ll be watching and it will bring back memories, a lot of them great ones. Not just for me as a golfer but as a son and a dad. That was just a really special week.” And therefore not only for Woods, as many would have you believe.